By Georgie Wood
ggannwood@yahoo.com
A Confucius Quote:
“Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator”.
Well, some older people who are still very cognizant of what is happening and who have their own opinions, agreeable or not, may not be content to only be a spectator. I believe that they should have the chance to do what interests them, and, hopefully, that family members will respect that and cooperate.
In my “Georgie Digs” articles, I have also shown my interest in the ancestry of each my husband and myself, and recently I attended a really interesting “Chisholm Family Reunion” for descendants of Richard H. Chisholm (1799-1855), although it was my husband’s mother who had been a descendant. This reunion was held at the impressive San Marcos Golf Resort in Chandler, Arizona, and was attended by many who I would again like to visit with and hear their interesting stories. One descendant, who I understand was in her 90 years of age, was a wonderful speaker, and some of her stories are included with pictures in a Chisholm Family Reunion book that was given to those who had attended the reunion.
As I had previously written, there has to be many good stories, just waiting to be told, by those who are in our Copper Corridor area. For some, there may have been past family experiences that they are hesitant to talk about. I had learned that all had not been perfect concerning some of my husband’s Texas ancestors who had eventually come to Arizona. One, who was an uncle to my husband’s father and who my husband’s family did not like or associate with, was mentioned in the book Gun Notches – A Saga Of Frontier Lawman Captain Thomas H. Rynning, and also in the book Shoot-Out At Dawn – An Arizona Tragedy by Tom Power. This man’s name was Willis Wood, although he had been mentioned as Willis Woods or Willis Jackson, but that Jackson name had evolved after some adventure of another Wood.
Stories such as these are part of history, although nothing to brag about, and I just might have a few others to write about.